FL--Accused abusive masseuse fires back, victims respond

An Orlando massage is firing back against allegations that he sexually assaulted a client. Victims of sexual assault reacted with horror to his hurtful and untruthful remarks.

In January, Frederick Dost was named as the perpetrator of an attack on a female customer in a lawsuit filed against a Massage Envy spa. The victim says she also reported her attack to law enforcement, the Florida Department of Health and the Massage Envy franchise. Dost’s employment was subsequently terminated.

In a long, just-posted defense to those allegations, Dost writes that he “knows all about predatory females” and is being “used as a pawn in a larger money grab.”http://frederickdost.brandyourself.com/

He explains it this way,

The problem is systemic male gender bias and a "guilty until proven innocent" corporate model and a zero tolerance policy that assumes the male therapist guilty until he proves his innocence, on ANY complaint. Women know this rule and use it to their advantage, often for malicious intentions or revenge, especially if the male therapist rejects their sexual advances or threatens to end a session on the spot and report them to management or the police. No male therapist dares to do this in a litigious America bias against men and led by opportunistic prosecutors asserting that women are somehow helpless, "vulnerable" victims during a massage session.

Members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests call Dost’s posting “full of unfounded, self-serving and hurtful characterizations of victims in general and women in particular.”

“Approximately 1 in 20 women are victims of sexual violence other than rape, a shockingly high figure,” said Barbara Dorris of SNAP. “Almost 70% of these assaults are not reported to police. Violence against women is a wide-spread and under reported crime. To blame ‘predatory females’ is both insulting and untrue.”

“Remarks like those made by Dost intimidate other victims and deter them from reporting criminals, which leads to more sexual violence,” said David Clohessy of SNAP. “And victim-blaming rubs salt into the wounds of already damaged survivors. False allegations of sexual assault are extremely rare.”

"Our hearts ache for all female survivors of sexual violence, some of whom will no doubt be discouraged from blowing the whistle on sex offenders when they see other victims being discounted and publicly attacked,” Dorris said. “We want them to know that there are people who will believe them and support them.”

“We hope this mean-spirited tactic will backfire and actually prod more people who saw, suspected or suffered crimes or misconduct by Dost to come forward, get help, protect others and expose wrongdoers who either committed or concealed sexual violence,” Clohessy said.

One of Dost’s victims is represented by Ft. Lauderdale attorney Adam Horowitz.

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for sexual abuse victims. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who suffered abuse in all types of institutional settings, including schools, scouting and the military. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org